history Archives - Cold War Radio Museum https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/tag/history/ Cold War Radio History Fri, 10 Apr 2026 15:56:54 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.5 https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/cropped-CWRM-Mic2022-32x32.jpg history Archives - Cold War Radio Museum https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/tag/history/ 32 32 The Breakfast Show: From Institutional Voice to Pat Gates — Voice of America, 1961–1978 https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/the-breakfast-show-from-institutional-voice-to-pat-gates-voice-of-america-1961-1978/ https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/the-breakfast-show-from-institutional-voice-to-pat-gates-voice-of-america-1961-1978/#respond Tue, 24 Feb 2026 20:18:28 +0000 https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/?p=24484 An early preserved recording documenting the program’s beginnings — and the later rise of Pat Gates as one of the Voice of America’s rare internationally recognized broadcasting personalities. The Breakfast Show was a worldwide English-language morning program inaugurated by the Voice of America (VOA) in 1961. Produced in Washington, D.C., it combined international news reporting, […]

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]]> https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/the-breakfast-show-from-institutional-voice-to-pat-gates-voice-of-america-1961-1978/feed/ 0 Voice of America Polish Service Broadcast – April 23, 1986 https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/voice-of-america-polish-service-broadcast-april-23-1986/ https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/voice-of-america-polish-service-broadcast-april-23-1986/#respond Tue, 04 Nov 2025 18:06:42 +0000 https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/?p=23766 Digitally restored 30-minute archival recording by VOA Central Recording for the National Security Agency (NSA) Introduction In April 1986, amid Cold War tension and the slow but steady rebirth of democracy in Poland, the Voice of America (VOA) Polish Service continued its expanded shortwave schedule—five hours daily—broadcasting from Washington, D.C. to a country still under some martial […]

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]]> https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/voice-of-america-polish-service-broadcast-april-23-1986/feed/ 0 Recording of a VOA Polish Service Broadcast – April 21, 1986 https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/recording-of-a-voa-polish-service-broadcast-april-21-1986/ https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/recording-of-a-voa-polish-service-broadcast-april-21-1986/#respond Sat, 01 Nov 2025 22:54:18 +0000 https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/?p=23730 🎙️ The VOA Polish Service in the Cold War Context The Voice of America (VOA) Polish Service broadcast was aired from Washington and hosted by Bogusław Jerke, who read the newscast together with Zdzisław Mikulski. Field reports were read by Sławomir Suss and Renata Lipińska. The program includes a full newscast, a brief VOA Editorial—the short, official segment that states the United […]

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]]> https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/recording-of-a-voa-polish-service-broadcast-april-21-1986/feed/ 0 Rare Recording of the Voice of America 1986 Polish Broadcast – July 21, 1986 https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/rare-recording-of-the-voice-of-america-1986-polish-broadcast/ https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/rare-recording-of-the-voice-of-america-1986-polish-broadcast/#respond Tue, 28 Oct 2025 23:16:58 +0000 https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/?p=23702 Summary of the Voice of America Polish Service Broadcast July 21, 1986 — 8:00 p.m. Warsaw time This rare recording of a Voice of America Polish Service evening program from July 21, 1986, survives because it was made at the request of the National Security Agency. It was likely used as a Polish-language training aid […]

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]]> https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/rare-recording-of-the-voice-of-america-1986-polish-broadcast/feed/ 0 Communist secret police in Poland spied on Voice of America’s Willis Conover to shut down Radio Free Europe https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/communist-secret-police-in-poland-spied-on-voice-of-americas-willis-conover-to-shut-down-radio-free-europe/ https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/communist-secret-police-in-poland-spied-on-voice-of-americas-willis-conover-to-shut-down-radio-free-europe/#respond Tue, 03 Jun 2025 23:24:31 +0000 https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/?p=23426 One of the secret police informants spying on the Voice of America’s (VOA’s) famous jazz DJ Willis Conover during his visit to communist-ruled Poland in 1959 was the mother of Rafał Trzaskowski, the unsuccessful candidate for Poland’s presidency in 2020 and 2025. Trzaskowski’s late mother’s cooperation with the communist secret police, which also involved spying […]

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]]> https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/communist-secret-police-in-poland-spied-on-voice-of-americas-willis-conover-to-shut-down-radio-free-europe/feed/ 0 Soviet Spy Uncovered Through Venona Project Worked at Voice of America Library https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/soviet-spy-uncovered-through-venona-project-worked-at-voice-of-america-library/ https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/soviet-spy-uncovered-through-venona-project-worked-at-voice-of-america-library/#respond Mon, 19 Aug 2024 23:55:57 +0000 https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/?p=20913 Ted Lipien for Cold War Radio Museum News reports that Poland, in the latest Russia-West prisoner swap, handed over an alleged Russian spy, who had worked for the Voice of America (VOA) as one of its freelance journalists, exposed some of the methods of Russian spying similar to Soviet spying during the Cold War. One […]

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]]> https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/soviet-spy-uncovered-through-venona-project-worked-at-voice-of-america-library/feed/ 0 Operation VETO: Radio Free Europe’s Balloons with Leaflets to Czechoslovakia https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/operation-veto-radio-free-europes-balloons-with-leaflets-to-czechoslovakia/ https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/operation-veto-radio-free-europes-balloons-with-leaflets-to-czechoslovakia/#respond Thu, 01 Aug 2024 05:38:05 +0000 https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/?p=20865 By Ted Lipien for Cold War Radio Museum In his book Radio Free Europe’s “Crusade for Freedom: Rallying Americans Behind Cold War Broadcasting, 1950–1960,” Richard H. Cummings describes “Operation VETO” as an attempt by the Free Europe Committee and the Free Europe Press during the Cold War to encourage opposition to the Soviet-imposed regime in […]

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]]> https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/operation-veto-radio-free-europes-balloons-with-leaflets-to-czechoslovakia/feed/ 0 Vice President George H. W. Bush’s 1987 Visit to Poland – Religion in Voice of America Broadcasts https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/vice-president-george-h-w-bushs-1987-visit-to-poland-religion-in-voice-of-america-broadcasts/ https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/vice-president-george-h-w-bushs-1987-visit-to-poland-religion-in-voice-of-america-broadcasts/#respond Thu, 06 Jun 2024 03:54:26 +0000 https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/?p=20534 Ted Lipien for Cold War Radio Museum On Sunday, September 27, 1987, Vice President and future U.S. President George H. W. Bush, who visited Poland at the request of President Ronald Reagan, took part with his wife, Barbara Bush, and the American delegation in a Catholic mass in the St. Margaret church in Łomianki, a […]

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]]> https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/vice-president-george-h-w-bushs-1987-visit-to-poland-religion-in-voice-of-america-broadcasts/feed/ 0 For Poland’s Freedom From Beyond The Green Border – The Story of Radio Free Europe and Voice of America Broadcaster Marek Walicki https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/for-polands-freedom-from-beyond-the-green-border-the-story-of-radio-free-europe-and-voice-of-america-broadcaster-marek-walicki/ https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/for-polands-freedom-from-beyond-the-green-border-the-story-of-radio-free-europe-and-voice-of-america-broadcaster-marek-walicki/#respond Sun, 10 Mar 2024 01:31:14 +0000 https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/?p=19522 Summary Marek Walicki, a journalist and former broadcaster of the Polish Service of Radio Free Europe (RFE) and the Polish Service of the Voice of America (VOA), is the author of a book,  Z Polski Ludowej do Wolnej Europy (From People’s Poland to Free Europe), a memoir of his life and radio career. First published in Polish […]

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]]> https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/for-polands-freedom-from-beyond-the-green-border-the-story-of-radio-free-europe-and-voice-of-america-broadcaster-marek-walicki/feed/ 0 Voice of America in 1957 and 1972 – VOA’s International Broadcasting Successes and Failures https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/voice-of-america-in-1957-and-1972-voas-international-broadcasting-successes-and-failures/ https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/voice-of-america-in-1957-and-1972-voas-international-broadcasting-successes-and-failures/#respond Sun, 15 Oct 2023 23:30:57 +0000 https://www.coldwarradiomuseum.com/?p=19275 Ted Lipien for Cold War Radio Museum In February 1972, the U.S. government-funded and managed Voice of America (VOA), then part of the United States Information Agency (USIA), observed the 30th anniversary of its founding in 1942, during World War II. The Voice of America commissioned a bronze medal to mark 30 years of VOA’s […]

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